Check out this FT articleby Richard Milne in the FT’s “Future of Capitalism segment: Nordic model is ‘future of capitalism’
“The world should consider adopting the Nordic approach to capitalism and learn from the region’s response to its financial and economic crisis in the 1990s in the attempt to stave off recession, according to the chairman of two of Europe’s biggest companies.
Jorma Ollila, chairman of Nokia, the mobile phone maker, and oil major Royal Dutch Shell, said the Nordic style of capitalism was characterised by openness to globalisation balanced by strong government programmes to protect people from its excesses and an egalitarian education system.”
I’m a huge fan of the nordic model for Government, economics and to some extent even society. The Scandinavian economies and even their welfare system have proved remakrably resilient in recent years, despite being targets for right-wing attacks (particulalrly in the US) and bizarrely O’Reilly feels Sweden is a nightmare communist state.
They’ve shown that globalisation need not be a negative as long as the state acts as a levelling tool, of course such engineering would be far harder in more economically diverse countries such as the UK and France, but in principles the direction is a positive one.
2 comments | tags: Capitalism, Credit Crunch, Economics, EU politics, Globalization, Recession, Scandinavia
Last month Britain was swept up in a maelstrom of rage after it was revealed that Fred Goodwin, the chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, was due to receive a generous pension to the tune of a staggering £703,000 a year. The problem? The Royal Bank of Scotland is now 70% owned by the British taxpayer. Cue outrage from all sides: while the tabloids and broadsheets alike foamed at the mouth, government ministers went a bit mental and promised to suspend the rule of law. The controversy over Goodwin’s pension wasn’t just a matter of one man’s greed, however; it was a focal point for the public feeling of helplessness, disbelief and disgust brought on by the realisation that the mighty, all-knowing financial powers we entrusted with our money are actually just a load of out-of-their-depth greedy idiots who’ve gone and squandered the lot.
Well, now the United States is having their “Goodwin” moment – and who knows where the chips will fall?
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no comments | tags: bonuses, Credit Crunch, finance, Recession, U.S. bank bailout, U.S. politics, US Treasury, Wall Street
Google who’s to blame for the economic crisis and you’ll be gifted a bold array of stark headlines from Business Week to the Guardian’s 25 people to blame. I think there is something of a wintry chill to the blame game. With few pleasant distractions, many people are sharpening their knives for the creators of this mess. No one should be surprised, there needs to be some catharsis of public anger and who better a target than those in power or those with wealth. Nevertheless, while I think blaming is inevitable it’s also premature, and when we eventually pull out of the recession, and look to understand what occurred and how to prevent this kind of event in the future, the blame game as it currently stands will be a distraction from discovering the underlying causes.
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no comments | tags: Credit Crunch, Economics, International politics, Media, Popular Culture, Recession
